Many patients either post surgical or for a particular condition will have weight bearing restrictions placed on them by their health care practitioner. Weight bearing restriction orders can range from the patient not be allowed to place any weight on a limb or be limited as to how much weight and time can be placed on a limb. Patients with these conditions will often undergo physical therapy for an extended period of time. Much of the physical therapy could occur in the patient's home. Various challenges occur when managing a patient who has weight bearing restrictions on a limb once the patient is at home. Typically a patient's home is not configured with various structural elements that may assist in traversing around the interior of the home. Further, a patient's home may have structural elements that present challenges traversing therein such as but not limited to stairs.
Stairs present a unique challenge for patients that have weight bearing restriction orders. These patients may use a variety of devices that assist in movement such as but not limited to crutches or scooters. The aforementioned devices are not capable of effectively helping a patient traverse up or down a staircase. Most homes are not equipped with elevators or stair lifts as these can be quite expensive to install.
Accordingly, there is a need for a mobility assistance device that is configured to assist a user having a weight bearing restriction to traverse up and down a staircase.